NSTP-CWTS Graduation

I am here in school with everyone who passed the NSTP-CWTS. Well, it seems not everyone is here yet! I think only half of the students are here yet. Many are late. We were told to be in school at exact 8:00am, but it's now already 9:00am and the ceremony hasn't started yet. Filipino time is so annoying sometimes.

I am torn between excitement and annoyance. I am excited to see everyone come up to receive their diploma. Mine will be next year, when I am finished with all studies. I never knew how it feels like being on stage, because I missed my official high school graduation. I want to have this feeling of receiving a diploma at least once.

But I am annoyed that it starts so late. This is probably going to take a long time, because first there is the ceremony for students who receive a dipoma, then there will be dance presentations, and then there will be several speeches. I hope this will start soon.

Why is it not summer?

I thought summer has already started here in Philippines. Vacation is coming, hence I need good weather. But it is raining all the time. The road is flooded again. I don't like this weather as I don't want to go outside since it is so dirty and slippery. I looked at the sky and it is so dark, and that means more rain is coming all day.

I hate going to school with dirty shoes, but I have no choice, because I have P.E. this afternoon. I cannot skip the class since it is our finals.

Well, after this week, vacation starts. The school will start in June again, so I got two months of vacations. Not bad, I can rest, and relax, be with my family, and hang out with my friends. Or maybe go somewhere, and chill. Or paint at home. There's so much in my head that I want to do this summer. I hope I can do most of it in my vacations.

Tired after exam

Coming home from school into a clean room and no laundry on my basket makes me feel relieve. No chores today! I had a tiring day. I was out the whole day, now that I am back in my boarding house all I want to do is resting. Maybe I go to sleep early. I am really tired, my eyes are hurting. Hopefully, I can sleep soon.

It was a bit stressful at the school, because I had presented my speech. I felt as I wasn't ready at all. I felt like I forgot all important words and sentences that I prepared for my speech. But my teacher is just too kind, she gave me a passing grade for my speech. And I'm grateful for that. Anyway, two more exams and I am finally done with all the stress.

So that's just one thing what I did today. I did eat dinner already, now I am full. What I need the most is rest, I just want to sleep all night long. I am not worried about waking up late tomorrow as I don't have school in the morning.

Family fight

A family fight is always annoying. Family members should get along each other. I hate having a fight with my brothers or even with my father. Most times, we're all in good terms, but there is also that time when we can no longer hold back our temper. One of my brothers left the house, because he got mad at my dad. I am also mad at my dad right now. The other brother was working at that time, so he is out of the fight and doesn't know anything yet. My dad has a temper, he get angry suddenly, and it is annoying to hear him says inappropriate words.

I have a temper, but I put it in the right place, I get annoyed pretty easily, but I don't loose my temper. The thing is I get angry,  but I soon realize that my anger is not worth anything. So I breath and try to act like nothing happened. When my dad gets angry, he takes it seriously and is not talking for days. And that is really not fine!

Speech Communication Exam

This week will be stressful for me! The Speech Communication examination is coming. It will be different than the previous exams. It is not anymore one to one with the teacher, instead each of us needs to deliver a speech in front of everyone. Not only what we say will be judged, but also our gestures. Gosh, I have never done this before! I don't know if I can stay sincere while uttering every words in front of my classmates and teacher. I fear already that I will end up embarrassing myself. I'm not used to talk in English to the crowd. So I don't know if I can make it.

But I have no choice! I need to do it, otherwise I will fail in Speech Communication class for sure. The finals count 40 percent, so it's among all the four exams always the highest part of the final grade for the whole semester. My exam will be on Wednesday. I did already choose my speech, all I have to do now is to memorize the whole thing. Wish me luck everyone!

Disrespectful Kid

Sometimes I have the feeling kids nowadays don't have the same repect to elders than I had when I was young. Maybe there is a lack of parent's guidance, but I feel many kids became rebellious or disrespectful towards elders. The problem is that some parents don't even care about how they're raising their kids. For instance, they send kids to school, but they don't check whether their kids are studying or just missing classes all the time. But education is very important for kids.

I recently had this encounter with a 13 years old boy: he is my first cousin, and he sent me 3 photos of him in messenger showing his middle finger. That is an indecent gesture. I wanted to tell him personally that what he did was not right, but he is in Manila. Hence I did send him a very long message. I asked him why he did it? His answer was that the photos are not meant for me, but for his enemy in Facebook and that he sent them wrongly. I told him that not to do it again, as it is bad. Sigh, I hope he'd not be the same as his father.

Sunday Chores

I went to church earlier with my cousin. We woke up before sunrise, and by 6am we arrived at the church, just to figure out that we were 1h too early. So we waited for the mass to start, but there were chairs so the wait wasn't tiring. The mass started around 7am and finished at 9am. Then we headed home, to do the house chores. I cleaned the dishes as well as the floor, while my cousin gathered all our dirty clothes. After that, we took our breakfast, which made the plates dirty again that I just cleaned. Ok, I washed the plates again. Then we rested a bit to digest the food we ate.

When everything seemed right, we walked directly to the river, so that we can start washing our clothes. It didn't take long for us to finish, as we didn't have to fetch water. Once we were done, we went home to hang the clothes for drying. The weather is good, so I think it will all get dry quickly. within this whole day. After that I started to write this blog. It's too hot right now, and I'm tired.

Live Circus Show

Last night was my first time to watch a live circus show here in Hernani in Eastern Samar. It was a lot of fun! I enjoyed watching the crew performed breathtaking stunts. It was amazing, seeing them doing impossible things. Artistic and spectacular! I saw them walking on wires, which probably needs lots of training before you can do it without falling down. I never tried this myself. There were so confident on the wire. I never have seen anyone doing a similar performance. It was great.

The ticket for the show is only 30 Pesos. That's not bad and everyone can afford it in exchange for a good show. The circus will be here until tonight. For the final show, they will lower the price of the ticket from 30 Pesos to 20 Pesos. I'm excited to watch the show for the second time. I'll be watching it with my brother and cousins.  This week is great, I've got to see something good while I'm home. Circus happen once a year, and I am happy I did not miss the opportunity to watch it.

Saturday

I am here at Baragay 5-A in Tacloban City with my classmates for the culmination program in NSTP. This will be the last program to attend. I feel bad for those students who didn't attend the program. First of all, they miss the opportunity to do something good to others. And second, if students skip NSTP, they might fail in class, because this last meeting is very important. This will be the final exam, yet so many are not here. Many NSTP students quit going to this subject as they get bored just listening for 3 hours. It is always okay not to attend, but without passing the NSTP subject, a student can never graduate.

It's too hot right now, but we can ease the heat just for this time. We have a tent, but it's not enough since the number of childrens that are here are more than what we expected. Anyway, I think we did a great job, we finished all the programs, so all the hard work is been paid off. I am thanking God that I made it this far already. One year of studying is coming to an end. So happy to call myself a student. One more year, I hope.

Lobo tower

My friends had been talking about Lobo. It is a place in my province located in the mountains. There is a tower where you'll be able to see the whole town of Hernani. We talked often about visiting that place but it never happened. Until that one day came, and we decided to make our plan come true.

Some of us have been to the place already, while I was a first timer. I had no idea what the place looks like, and how far we have to walk to get there. Now I know: it is pretty far. We reached the tower after about 1 hour of hiking. But we got disappointed. The tower has a guard and there was at least two dogs barking at us. They didn't let us in. So we could not enjoy the view from the tower. We took pictures along the walk, but none of the tower. I think it is not really worth the walk. The advantage for me now is that I no longer need to wonder about the place. I think that was good enough.

There is another place called also Lobo, in Jiabong in Samar. That is different: it is a cave and maybe that is more exciting. One day I will visit that, too.

Bad Memory

Yesterday, I went home to Samar to get my NSTP shirt as I need it tomorrow for the final meetings. I came back to Tacloban around 3 pm. I was quite tired from the trip, so I rested a bit at my place and then I got up to charge my phone, because it was getting low battery. But oh my god, where is my charger? Having a phone with low battery an no charger is about the worst what can happen to an internet addict like me, lol. I realized that I left my charger in Samar. I forgot that I put it inside the camera bag, I didn't remembered that I have it with me at all while I was in Samar. I used my auntie's charger in Samar even though I had my own with me.

I hate it when I forget something. I feel like I am an old lady with bad memory. My small brain often forgets things. I've been dealing with this memory disorder ever since I was a teenager, and I think there's no way to fix it. I fear when I am getting really old, it maybe becomes worse. Well, I'm glad my powerbank is fully charged, that's what I'm using right now. I'll see what I can do tomorrow: I might go home after the NSTP meeting.

Summer Heat

I can feel the summer already! It is really hot right now! I'm thinking to go swimming. Not today as I still have classes to attend, but later. Maybe when vacations come. I have school until the 31st of March, and the graduation is on April 1st, so I think I can start my vacation on the second week of April.

Hopefully we can take all the remaining exams next week for the finals. The finals aren't really easy, as there will lots of difficult questions in the exam, covering all of what we have learned up to now. I'm not even sure if I can pass the P.E this semester. If I fail, I need to repeat that subject in next semester. I've got only 5 points during the prefinals in P.E. This subject is what I worry the most, I wish I can pass. The finals are the most important exam for the whole semester.

But despite my worries about the finals, I am still excited for this coming summer. Whatever happens, if I pass or not, I just have to accept it either way.

Abandoned children

It is a sad fact about the Philippines: it is common here that a woman gives birth but then abandons the child because she cannot take care of the child. Some get pregnant too early, some get pregnant unwanted, and sometimes the father of the child disappears as quickly as the belly grows and leaves the woman alone with all the responsibilities to take care of the child.

However, I do not really understand how somebody can abandon a poor child. I mean why didn't you think first before becoming pregnant? Why did you wait for your womb to get to 9 months if you'd end up abandoning the baby? And why don't you accept children as a gift from God? Seriously, many couples out there are longing for a child but never get granted their wishes, while you throw away the chance to be a mother to the new born child you abandoned. It's so sad!

You could have at least thought about the condequences of what you're about to do, whether it is good, or not. When the child is born, you have to face the responsibility. Killing a child or abandoning it is a huge sin to God. Nowadays teens does this more often, they go for abortions, because they think that's the best thing that they can do in order to hide from their parents that they got pregnant. That may be convenient, but I believe it is not the best solution. There is always a better solution. You should accept the outcome of what you did, and try to give the child a happy life, then that would be okay. Remember that many out there want what God had given to you, but they can never bear a child. Consider yourself lucky!

No Teacher

I arrived on time for our first subject for today, but it looks like our instructor is not around. Again! Again! Again! It is always like this. He only comes to school when he needs to give us quiz. This has nothing to do with teaching, this is just a proof of incompetence and sloppiness. I wonder whether his absence gets deducted from his salary. I don't think this is fair to us students, because we pay for this college. He barely comes to class, and we're not learning from him. Whenever he is in school, he talks about random stuff not related to the subject. So how are we suppose to learn?

It is really disappointing when you get yourself ready for school, wake up early so that you won't be late, and then realize that your teacher isn't around. I'm not happy. Some students are happy for the free time, and they are not really interested to learn anything. They never complain to him. He will still be my teacher until the end of this month, but next year will be a different teacher. Gladly, he is moving to another school to "teach".

Wonder Woman is coming

I just watched the Wonder Woman trailer, and it seems really interesting to watch this movie in cinema. I am a fan of Wonder Woman. I remember watching the cartoon comic when we got our first TV. That was long time ago when I was a little kid. Even now, I still watch cartoons. I think I have watched all the cartoon versions of Wonder Woman already. Wonder woman is also in the Marvel cartoon movie Justice League.

The was once an old TV series Wonder Woman starring Lynda Carter. Of course, TV series are always more limited than cinema movies. Hence I hope this new version of Wonder Woman will be much better. Gal Gadot has the right body for Wonder Woman, and I think she is a bad ass girl, so she is suited for the role. I can't wait for this movie to come out. It gets released in June, so we still have a while to wait. But I am exited to watch the movie soon.

Summer break is coming

Just 17 more days before summer break. Students who are not taking summer class will have a long break until the next semester comes. May will be the beginning of enrollment, but as usual, some students even enroll really late, maybe some of them get transferred from their previous school. Even if you enroll late, or if you enroll in the middle of the semester in ACLC College, you'll still get accepted, as long as you can pay the school fee. ACLC is a private school, so money is their business. Therefore they're not strict when it comes to their rules for the students and for the teachers.
But even when you enroll late, you must be good in school. Only the good, smart, and willing students can graduate with knowledge.

Fire drill

Today, we had a fire drill orientation in school. Now, it is over and I am hungry. I haven't eaten anything since morning, but I don't have enough time to go further to eat, so I think, I'll just eat lunch at Rafaels. Besides, I'd like to eat pork and they have it.

The fire drill was boring at first, because all of the firewomen did just talk. They explained to us what we should do to rescue not just ourself but also anyone else during a fire. Later, we did a little bit practice. But let's hope that there will never be a fire catastrophy in school. At least we are prepared.

From earthquake drill to fire drill! Well, I am thankful for everything that the firewomen did for us. Their efforts are priceless, even though they are women they proved us that being a woman is not the hindrance to get such a dangerous and stressful job.

That's all! I'm now on my way to Rafaels to eat lunch. Good luck everyone!

Time flies

One year has passed by since I left the city where I used to live for years. I left in order to study. Time flies too fast! When I was in the beginning, I thought I wouldn't be able to keep up with my studies, but here I am half way to getting my goals.

It took me three attempts to go to college, and I failed two times. This is the very last attempt and I must finish. My relatives always remind me not to give up my studies no matter what. I cannot disappoint them, specially my cousin who believes in me. She told me being able to finish college is an honor that you can proudly tell to our family, or to anyone that had let you down.

She didn't have the chance to go to college due to lack of money, so she applied for a job in the mall. And now she's doing great with her job, and she's loving it. Aside my family, she motivates me most to graduate.

Don't make things too hard for you

March 28 to 31 is the finals examination schedule. That means last week of March will be busy, but I bet all the ACLC Students will skip school after that and will start their vacation.

Some ACLC students are lazy. They only come to school when there are important activities, or when it is examination day. They don't pay much attention in school, and they don't care about the money that their parents are wasting on them. Spoiled kids that do not understand the power of education! Well, not all are like that!

It would be fine skipping classes if you're smart enough to handle the learning material, for instance if you can learn entirely from books. But if you're born brainless, then you're only making your life more complicated. It is better to listen to an instructor who is able to help understanding the material. Then you can pass the exam. You'll not learn anything if you keep on doing unworthy things. Think of your parents, or whoever is supporting you for school, they are working hard just to help you to get a good education. Just saying!

Problems with my DSLR Camera

On my trip to Singapore, I got this DSLR camera and an instruction book how to use it, but until now I still don't know how to use the DSLR properly. I thought it would be easy, but I was wrong. I messed up something, and whenever I try to take photos now, it says the subject is too dark even when I am outside in the sun, so I always have to use the flash. Something in the settings is wrong now, but it was okay until my brothers and cousins played with it.

It's hard to figure out what I need to do to fix it. Since I don't know much about the camera. I started reading the book, but it is still frustrating that I do not find anything that might explain why the camera is acting like that. The book has too many pages, so reading it all will take me long time.

I hope I could fix it soon though, so I can use it in Samar for the kids graduation in April. The camera is not broken, I just need to know which setting has changed so that it works like before again.

Dismissed early

I just got home from school. We only had a quiz today. Our Instructor dismissed us earlier than usual, in return we need to search for any kinds of discussion material for Wednesday's communication topic. It is going to be 1 on 1 with her again. She doesn't really judge us on what exactly we discuss but rather on how we do it, for instance, that she hears you clearly while you utter your sentences. So I'm not worried about that. Because even when I make an error, she doesn't get mad, instead she helps me to say the word correctly.

I don't think she will let any of her students fail. She's such an understanding teacher. I'm so glad she is our teacher in speech communication. She never judge students according to their preferences in school. That's so cool of her. I am her fan, I hope there are more teachers like her in the future.

Love or crush

Crush and love are two different things. Crush is when a person bumps into someone who is attractive. To have a crush is not bad! It happens to all human beings and is often the start of a deeper relationship with somebody. On the other hand, getting crushes is also one of the reasons why some single people live and remain happy. They are contented watching their crushes from afar, even if it is no deeper relationship. LOL. By the end, a crush is just a crush, nothing serious, and you'll not get hurt if you see the target of your affection with someone else. Ok, you'll perhaps feel disappointed, but you can move on from it, and try to wait for another crush to come.

Love is deeper. When we choose to love, there are possibilities of us to get heartbroken in the end. Relationship nowadays don't really last life-long anymore for many people. And a separation or divorce can hurt the lovers, and it's hard to move on when it gets to that point. Why I know? Because I've been there, have done that, either way: love and crush. Now I'd rather wait for someone serious to come and accept me for who I am. So, right now I say no to love, but I have a few crushes. The problem is that they are Hollywood actors. LOL. I've got no chance with them!

Grilled Bangus for Dinner

I think grilled bangus for dinner would be good! I haven't had it for a while now. I am craving for grilled bangus with rice. I already told my friend (the landlady here) that we will have it for dinner. Her husband will go shopping for bangus since he has a motorbike, so I'll just hand to her the money good for 2 pieces of bangus, one for them and one for me. Her husband is good at grilling, so he will be the one to cook it. All I have to do is wait for it.

I haven't eaten anything yet today. I was too lazy to go out and get food, because it's raining. I'll just wait the dinner. It's really good to eat when you're really hungry, as food tastes much better then. I'm excited for my dinner and happy because the couple agreed to my plan. The kilo of bangus does not cost much and to treat them is good. Luckily, I don't need to cook myself today and I don't need to eat alone.

Late Lunch At Mang Inasal

We are here at one of our favorite places to eat: Mang Inasal. We like to eat chicken here. Today, two of my classmates ordered pork barbecue, while the rest of us, including myself, ordered chicken. We had a noisy late lunch but it is fun to eat with friends. Lots of talking while eating.

When I am done with college, I will always remember those bonding with friends during lunch. I'll probably miss the people I'm always with. While I'm currently studying, I'm looking forward to have more fun times with my classmates that I get to hangout with.

Anyway, we are done eating now, and it is time to leave. I think we are going to the sea side now, until class starts. Good luck to us for our next school subject. Since we are full, I think we can easily answer questions of our instructor. A hungry brain does not work as well as a brain after a good lunch!

Graduation's date

Today during our literacy and recreation program in NSTP, we were again informed about the exact date of our graduation. Instead of March 27 it's been moved to April 1. Well,  April 1 is still earlier than most other school's graduation's date. I have no complaints, as long as they don't move it to the second week of April. Because I just think I deserve a two months break away from school.

From all the embarrassment and stress I deal with P.E, I believe I needed a long break. LOL. I'm happy that I will be finishing with my P.E. subject this year, I just hope I'd passed though. It wouldn't be so cool of me if I failed, and then I would need to repeat it next year. I have faith in my P.E. instructor so maybe he'd consider passing me and the rest who do not also know how to dance, and always have the hard time following steps. We are now at the finals, this will be the last examination we need to deal. We can do this, until the end of the semester.

No tree planting, no good grades

I am not sure the tree planting happened. When I woke up this moring, it was raining so hard, so I went back to sleep. You cannot plant trees when it is so wet. Last time during our tree planting, the weather wasn't good that time either.  Everyone was complaining, they might get sick from going to it. I was sick afterwards as well, as I caught a cough.

But I think I've done something good for today. My room is all cleaned up, aside from that I have no dirty clothes. I had done laundy earlier, It feels good to have all chores done.

Later this morning, the rain stopped suddenly, so I am kind of disappointed that I didn't go. I regretted my decision, but now it is too late. I guess no good grades for NSTP either. I'll just wait for the graduation day to come to see if I really did pass all my second semester subjects.

Tree planding on Sunday

Sunday has always been a free day for us. But this time is different: we have a school activity tomorrow. I need to wake up early because at 5 am, we need to be in school so that we can catch up the free ride to the planting place. I'm not sure how many service cars we will be using though, but since it is the army's service car, I assumes it's enough for all the students to have a ride for free.

NSTP is only one year, so this will be the last tree planting for me. The previous occasion were all at the same place. Now, they've decided to change the planting place. I heard this time, we go to Palo, Leyte. I don't know whether this will be a mountain again, or a valley. Climbing mountains for tree planting is strenuous. Nobody told me about it.

After disappointing grades in math and maybe in P.E., I hope I get a higher grade in NSTP,  I'll go, even I've already found out that some of my other classmates are not going. If they fail, then that's their problem.

Cleaning Day

Good morning to all!

We wake up every morning to start our day with a plan. I do that. I have so many things to do today, aside from school. Luckily I don't need to go to school before 4:30pm in the afternoon. My plan for today is to clean my place. Everything seems dirty to me. It's been a while since I wiped dust inside my room. I didn't realize how dirty my place is until this morning. I woke up early, but I decided to stay in bed, then I looked at the ceiling and saw the ceiling fan looking so dirty. It made me think, oh. lately, I didn't really pay much attention to my surroundings.

So first thing that came up in my mind was to clean my whole room. I have enough time for that before school. Wish you all a wonderful day/night wherever you are!

We live not to please anyone

We don't live our life everyday to please anyone,  If some people don't like you for being you, then that's their problem, not yours anymore. As long as you don't give them reasons to dislike you, it is okay to let them hate you.

It's really no problem to hear bad rumors about you from people who you barely sees and know. They are good at making up stories, they never care whether it is true or not. You just ignore them and don't let them affect you.

Sometimes we need to learn how to accept things in a nice way. We can't get mad over all disappointments, since not everything we desire can be given to us. I'm only a human. I'm not someone who have any magic to give you what you asked for. Honestly I'm also someone who happens to be just like you, I don't get anything for free. And I work for my living, it may be not a heavy work, but still I call it a job.

Tokhang Operations is back

It looks like Oplang Tokhang is on again. This is the police operation ordered by President Duterte to find and arrest drug users and drug dealers. The president ordered a stop of the operation recently, but now it will start again. The fear is again that innocents are going to die by the hands of these cops who don't have mercy for people. Even those who surrendered end up dead sometimes. I think every person deserves a second chance, no matter what mistakes were done. This holds also for drug users. But many police officers can't understand that.

However, a second chance does not come for free. First, anyone who uses or sells drugs must really stop doing it. If you don't stop, you don't deserve a second chance. Seriously, if you still want to live longer, but you're related to drugs, then you must quit to saves yourself. What can you get for using drugs anyway? It can only damage human's brain.

Free college

For students, Rodrigo Duterte's administration is the best amongst all the president I knew. He implemented a "no payment tuition fee" for all public universities and colleges. The costs are covered by an increase of the state budget for education. This means the Philippines government pays those schools. It's a relief for all parents who cannot afford expensive schools. They are no longer obligated to pay anything in school, except for pocket money. We must be thankful that this happens.

To all young people who eagerly want to study: Well, this year is your chance to enroll for free. This opportunity cannot be ignored. Study while there is a chance for you to study. Unfortunately, it does not hold for private schools. I am enrolled in ACLC, which is a private school where I have to pay each semester. Anyway, those who really want to go to college, this coming enrollment is your chance,  enroll, and study!

Q&A on Monday evening

Good evening! I just got back from school. Geez! I had a very intense evening while answering the Q&A test to my teacher. I think I did not talk enough, I was kind of blocked with thinking what to say for nearly two minutes. Glad my teacher happened to be nice and understandable. She explains the question to me in a way so that I could understand and could answer the question.

One thing is good about private schools: most teachers are nice, unlike in public school. When it comes to teaching, I cannot claim that all teacher in private school are better in their teaching subject, what I'm stating is that they take more time to explain and help you to find the right answer, and they will still stay polite even if you failed to answer. My speech communication teacher is awesome! She is very nice, and she is not into give bad grades to students.

School is important

Nowadays having no high school diploma or college degree won't help you find a good job. Day by day it's just getting more complicated for everyone of us. What could happen in the future to those who may not be able to finish their study? Because even now it is already difficult to find a job with a reasonable salary especially for those who didn't study.

Food and everyday's needs become more expensive every day. That's one of the main problem for us. I can still remember back the days when 50 cents was still useful and could get me a candy, but now it seems that 50 cents is nearly nothing worth anymore. I don't see anyone who accepts cents anymore. We all have to realize that study is very important, and it will help you get to a better place or position you want to be in the future.

Learning to drive a motorbike

My sunday was not boring at all! I've got to drive around using my brother's motorbike. That's what I often do whenever he isn't using his motorbike. I am doing it since just one month, and I can proudly say, I have learned to drive. Thanks to my brother for teaching me! He taught me well. Now, since I can already drive without my brother's help, all I need is to practice more perfectionate my driving skills.

I am not scared of driving anymore. I can already drive with a back ride. I think I've done something good for myself this year already. At the beginning, all was scary, until I tried it. Once you master the balancing, then everything goes well, and you'll learn. To avoid crashing yourself, always drive carefully.

Monday routine

Tomorrow is Monday, and I'm still here in Samar. My auntie needs to go to her work, and my cousin does have school tomorrow. It means I have to go back to the city early in the morning, like I usually do every Monday, so that I can be in school right on time.

What I don't like is when I make an effort, I wakes up early, hurry myself to get in the van or shuttle, just to be on time, only to be disappointed when none of my teachers shows up in school. What's the point of giving our phone number to them if they're not going to text us to let us know they cannot make it to school. It is annoying!

This are a bad role model. They can't blame students for skipping classes, if the instructors themselves are are always absent. If you don't like to teach, then resign, don't give hope to your students. They're never going to learn if you only show up in school once in a blue moon. Seriously!

Skin whitening

One time during our class in "CRM", our instructor mentioned that whitening soap isn't effective. He told us that the cosmetics marketing is often a lie, and that we should not believe that soap can make our skin lighter. He said we are only wasting money by buying whitening soap. Instead of buying those things, he said, we should try baking soda, and mix it with lemon to apply on our skin. That's a natural way to whiten skin without chemistry. Baking soda costs only 20 PHP while soap costs much more.

Out of curiosity, I tried it once. It does have some effect on the skin, not sure whether it is healthy or not. However, the best is if you are just happy with your skin tone. Then you need neither of those. I know dark people want to have white skin and white people think that dark skin is beautiful. Why cannot everybody be just happy with his/her current skin tone? Keep in mind, you are beautiful the way how you are! No need for change!

Rafaels'

This restaurant in Tacloban is called Rafaels'. This is the place where students usually eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Why? Because this is one of the closest places for ACLC students.

Rafaels' is inexpensive. The food tastes better than in most other cheap restaurants here in the city. I often go here with my classmates. Aside of being affordable, they have the soap that we like a lot. They serve it for free once you ordered a dish.

For those who want to travel here to Tacloban City, you have now an idea where to eat if you're looking for a cheap place. Then Rafaels' suits your budget. Also, you can meet lots of students here. So, come and see!

Nokia 3310

There is currently a hype about the new Nokia 3310 on the internet, in particular in social media.
It is a relaunch of an old phone, because a variant of Nokia 3310 did exist already 16 years ago and was very popular back then. It is praised as an alternative to the battery hungry smart phones, as it is said that the battery of Nokia 3310 can last longer than any phone. It has an entertaining snake game in it, that you can play anywhere, anytime, since it is independent from the internet. The phone is very affordable, and can get in four colors as of the moment.

Honestly, I cannot follow this hype. Sure, nowadays phone batteries die too quickly when you keep using it for facebook, whatsapp and internet browsing. But, this Nokia 3310 is very different than the other mobile phones, because ... you cannot do any internet stuff at all. It is not a smartphone, hence the phone has no wifi, no 3G or 4G support, no touch screen, no fancy apps, nothing of all those things that are a matter of course in modern phones. Strictly speaking, it has an internet browser, but browsing over 2G on a tiny screen is essentially a unusable feature. Hence, you cannot do any of the battery draining things, that's why the battery lasts so long. So what can you do with it then? You can do the most basic things: call a friend, or send a phone text message ... and play the snake game. That's about it!

The new Nokia 3310 has its purpose: It is good for emergency use, when you need a reliable phone to call police or ambulance. It is probably also good to fight your addiction of 24x7 internet browsing, as it forces you to stop staring with square eyes at the screen and instead talk ... yes, real talk, with your own voice, not with whatsapp or messenger ... to your friends.

On my side, I am not sure I need it. My first phone was a Nokia 1100 given to me by my mom. Already my next phone was smarter and had a touch screen. It's been years since I used a phone with a keypad. For emergencies, I have a PowerBank now! And for my addiction to stare at screens ... well, that is a different story!

Logan in the Movies

My expectation about the Logan movie was high, and I wasn't mistaken. I watched it today and I loved all the action scenes, and I liked the characters of the movie. Dafne Keen as Laura is amazing, she's only 12 years old, but she is so convincing in the amazing fight scenes. I can already imagine that, with her acting skills, she will be in many more great movies in the future. Aside from that, she's adorable. I am so glad they made a movie like this.

Wolverine has always been one of my favorite amongst all x-men characters. Hugh Jackman did so well as a Wolverine, nothing can beat him. Logan dies in this movie, which makes me sad. I love to see more Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Who will be the next big x-men character? There must be a next one in line. Anyway, this movie is worth watching, for those who are huge X-men fans. The end of the movie is very emotional, you might get tears in your eyes seeing the  great Wolverine leaving his daughter Laura all alone in the world.

Thanks for reading

Good morning! How is everyone doing?

Well, I'd like to thank you all for being my blog viewers and for spending time just to read my blogs. I know my writing aren't that great, as even after 1 year of blogging, I still feel like a beginner, but I hope later I will be able to enhance my writing so that I can write better stories here. Even though my blogs aren't perfect, I know there are a few of you who do read whatever I published, hence: thank you for reading, and I hope sometimes some of my topics catch your interest, maybe.

I'm looking forward to write more blogs. I hope, this summer I will be able to go to interesting places, so that I can write about it here. It's going to be a long and hopefully memorable vacation for me. There are still hidden places in my province, which I have not been once since I started living here. Hopefully this summer, I can visit these places and take photos for this blog. Vacation is coming soonest. I'm excited!

Ancraophobia

When typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda hit Samar, I was here in the province, and I've witnessed all the damage from the very strong winds that ruined everything. I've seen the waves coming from the ocean that took the lives of people in our barangay. I haven't watch them being drawn-out into the sea, because of course I was busy protecting myself. I only knew what have killed them. I have lots of fearsome memories during that time.

I was in the evacuation center near the coast, but this was not safe from the terror that was coming. When I saw the huge wave, I ran off from the evacuation center with my cousin and my brother. We run to the field to reach the mountain knowing the waves are chasing us. While running, trees and coconuts were cutting off, and they nearly hit us, but we managed to escape, and we survived.

It's been four years now since the disaster happened, but I think my phobia is still inside me. Sometimes, when I fall asleep while the TV is on, or while listening to loud music, I wake up shaking, and I realize that I am already crying. So, to avoid this from happening I make sure everything loud is off before going to sleep.

I remember one time I was in Manila, and I took a non-air-conditioned bus to travel back to my place. It started to rain and it became windy. The wind and the rain was mixed-up, and I was sitting at an open window in the bus. I could hear the wind sounded the same as Typhoon Yolanda. That's when I found out I had phobia. I think I'm not the only thyphoon survivor who has the same problem.